LIMERICK: A 24-member Indian contingent is competing at the World Archery Youth Championships 2023 in Limerick, Ireland. The event started on Monday (July 3) and will conclude on Sunday (July 9).
The World Archery Youth Championships, now in its 18th edition, have events for men’s and women’s recurve and compound archers in the under-21 and under-18 age categories.
Individual, as well as team events, will take place at the University of Limerick. India have sent 12 archers each in the U21 and U18 age groups.
India’s U21 archery squad is being led by compound archers Prathamesh Jawkar and Pragati. Prathamesh Jawkar bagged the gold medal at the Shanghai stage of the Archery World Cup 2023 in May while Pragati is a two-time Asia Cup champion at the senior level. Recurve archer Parth Salunke, who was part of the gold-winning men’s team in the 2021 youth championships, is also in the fray.
India’s U18 contingent is being spearheaded by 17-year-old women’s compound archer Aditi Gopichand Swami, who achieved the U18 world record in the qualification round while competing at the senior Archery World Cup in Medellin, Colombia, last month.
The last edition of the World Archery Youth Championships held in Wroclaw, Poland, in 2021 saw India bag 15 medals in total, including eight golds, to top the medals table.
The 2023 edition has a total of 518 archers (277 men and 241 women) from 58 countries competing for medals in individual and team events.
World Archery Youth Championships 2023: India’s U21 squad
Men’s recurve: Parth Salunkhe, Rohit Kumar, Aditya Choudhary
Women’s recurve: Ridhi, Bhargaviben Vargishkumar Bhagora, Bhajan Kaur
Men’s compound: Priyansh, Prathamesh Jawkar, Kushal Dalal
Women’s compound: Avneet Kaur, Parneet Kaur, Pragati.
Indian medal winners in U-21
Archers Event Medal
Avneet Kaur and Priyansh Compound mixed team Gold
Avneet Kaur, Parneet Kaur and Pragati Compound women’s team Gold
Parth Salunkhe and Ridhi Recurve mixed team Bronze
Indian medal winners in U-18
Archers Event Medal
Aishwarya Sharma, Aditi Gopichand Swami, Ekta Rani Compound women’s team Gold
Manav Ganeshrao Jadhao, Pawan Gat, Ganesh Mani Ratnam Compound men’s team Silver
Aishwarya Sharma, Manav Ganeshrao Jadhao Compound mixed team Bronze
Schedule
July 7, Friday: Recurve men’s and women’s team finals – 7:30 PM IST
July 8, Saturday: Compound men’s and women’s individual finals – 8:30 PM IST
July 9, Sunday: Recurve men’s and women’s individual finals – 8:30 PM IST. (ANI)